Opposition to apartheid was one of the great moments in postwar history. Its success remains a symbol of a progressive global community. An African Volk looks at this phenomenon from the other side. ...
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Opposition to apartheid was one of the great moments in postwar history. Its success remains a symbol of a progressive global community. An African Volk looks at this phenomenon from the other side. It explores how the apartheid state in South Africa sought to maintain power as the world of white empire gave way to a new postcolonial environment that repudiated racial hierarchy. Drawing upon archival research across Southern Africa and beyond, as well as over fifty hours of interviews with leading figures from the apartheid order, An African Volk shows how instead of simply resisting decolonization and African nationalism in the name of white supremacy, the white power structure looked to hijack and invert the norms of the new global era to relegitimize its rule, break out of isolation, and secure international acceptance. Situated at the nexus of African, decolonization, and Cold War history, An African Volk tells the story of how the architects of apartheid used statecraft to redefine whiteness and promote a fresh ideological basis for their rule. In doing so, it offers new global and local perspectives on the apartheid state and illuminates the complexities and contradictions of the postcolonial project. Equally, it shows how the regime’s outreach to Africa both reflected and fueled heated debates within Afrikaner society over the relationship between race, nation, and state, exposing a deeply divided polity in the midst of massive economic, cultural, and social change.Less

An African Volk : The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival

Jamie Miller

Published in print: 2016-11-24

Opposition to apartheid was one of the great moments in postwar history. Its success remains a symbol of a progressive global community. An African Volk looks at this phenomenon from the other side. It explores how the apartheid state in South Africa sought to maintain power as the world of white empire gave way to a new postcolonial environment that repudiated racial hierarchy. Drawing upon archival research across Southern Africa and beyond, as well as over fifty hours of interviews with leading figures from the apartheid order, An African Volk shows how instead of simply resisting decolonization and African nationalism in the name of white supremacy, the white power structure looked to hijack and invert the norms of the new global era to relegitimize its rule, break out of isolation, and secure international acceptance. Situated at the nexus of African, decolonization, and Cold War history, An African Volk tells the story of how the architects of apartheid used statecraft to redefine whiteness and promote a fresh ideological basis for their rule. In doing so, it offers new global and local perspectives on the apartheid state and illuminates the complexities and contradictions of the postcolonial project. Equally, it shows how the regime’s outreach to Africa both reflected and fueled heated debates within Afrikaner society over the relationship between race, nation, and state, exposing a deeply divided polity in the midst of massive economic, cultural, and social change.

The 20th century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while ...
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The 20th century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while socialism remained a vibrant force in European society, a culture of extreme individualism and consumption all but squeezed the welfare state out of existence. Documenting this historic change, this book looks at the course of social reform and Western politics after Communism. It traces in detail the forces that have shifted social concern over the course of a century, from the devastation of two world wars, to the post-war golden age of economic growth and democracy, to the ever-increasing dominance of the market. It makes sense of the historical trends that have created a climate in which politicians proclaim the arrival of a new historical epoch but rarely offer solutions to social problems that get beyond cost-benefit analyses. It goes one step further and proposes a strategy for bringing the market back into balance with the social needs of the people. It advocates a reconsideration of the notion of work, urges that market forces be brought under political control, and stresses the need for education that teaches the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. This book examines the state of social reform past, present, and future.Less

After Progress : American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century

Norman Birnbaum

Published in print: 2002-07-11

The 20th century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while socialism remained a vibrant force in European society, a culture of extreme individualism and consumption all but squeezed the welfare state out of existence. Documenting this historic change, this book looks at the course of social reform and Western politics after Communism. It traces in detail the forces that have shifted social concern over the course of a century, from the devastation of two world wars, to the post-war golden age of economic growth and democracy, to the ever-increasing dominance of the market. It makes sense of the historical trends that have created a climate in which politicians proclaim the arrival of a new historical epoch but rarely offer solutions to social problems that get beyond cost-benefit analyses. It goes one step further and proposes a strategy for bringing the market back into balance with the social needs of the people. It advocates a reconsideration of the notion of work, urges that market forces be brought under political control, and stresses the need for education that teaches the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. This book examines the state of social reform past, present, and future.

Aid Under Fire explores American nation building and modernization efforts in South Vietnam during the decade leading up to the full-scale ground war.Beginning in the mid-1950s, American nation ...
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Aid Under Fire explores American nation building and modernization efforts in South Vietnam during the decade leading up to the full-scale ground war.Beginning in the mid-1950s, American nation builders traveled to southern Vietnam, eager to help establish a permanent non-Communist state that would advance US interests in Asia.Ignoring the political concerns of the majority of the Vietnamese people, they supported the South Vietnamese government through a massive program of military, economic, and technical assistance.Based on American and Vietnamese archival sources, this book tells the story of how nation-building efforts were carried out and reveals in stark terms the limits on American power and influence in the period widely considered the apex of US supremacy in the world. This bookfocuses on the activities of the civilian aid workers who spearheaded US policies in South Vietnam.Confident in the transformative power of American models, these men and women were developmental enthusiasts who sought to reform Vietnamese institutions and garner support for the government in Saigon.However, like the government officials who recruited them, most aid workers lacked a basic knowledge and understanding of Vietnamese culture, history, and politics.As a result, they attempted to replicate political, economic, and military systems on the basis oftheir own experiences while displaying a willful blindness to the conditions and attitudes in Vietnam. By examining civilian aid workers’ role in implementing and shaping American modernization efforts in Vietnam, this book shows how nation building functioned—and ultimately failed—at the ground level.Less

Aid Under Fire : Nation Building and the Vietnam War

Jessica Elkind

Published in print: 2016-05-16

Aid Under Fire explores American nation building and modernization efforts in South Vietnam during the decade leading up to the full-scale ground war.Beginning in the mid-1950s, American nation builders traveled to southern Vietnam, eager to help establish a permanent non-Communist state that would advance US interests in Asia.Ignoring the political concerns of the majority of the Vietnamese people, they supported the South Vietnamese government through a massive program of military, economic, and technical assistance.Based on American and Vietnamese archival sources, this book tells the story of how nation-building efforts were carried out and reveals in stark terms the limits on American power and influence in the period widely considered the apex of US supremacy in the world. This bookfocuses on the activities of the civilian aid workers who spearheaded US policies in South Vietnam.Confident in the transformative power of American models, these men and women were developmental enthusiasts who sought to reform Vietnamese institutions and garner support for the government in Saigon.However, like the government officials who recruited them, most aid workers lacked a basic knowledge and understanding of Vietnamese culture, history, and politics.As a result, they attempted to replicate political, economic, and military systems on the basis oftheir own experiences while displaying a willful blindness to the conditions and attitudes in Vietnam. By examining civilian aid workers’ role in implementing and shaping American modernization efforts in Vietnam, this book shows how nation building functioned—and ultimately failed—at the ground level.

This book reconstructs American consular activity in Ireland from 1790 to 1913 and elucidates the interconnectedness of America's foreign interests, Irish nationalism and British imperialism. Its ...
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This book reconstructs American consular activity in Ireland from 1790 to 1913 and elucidates the interconnectedness of America's foreign interests, Irish nationalism and British imperialism. Its originality lies in that it is based on an interrogation of American, British and Irish archives, and covers over one hundred years of American, Irish and British relations through the post of the American consular official while also uncovering the consul's role in seminal events such as the War of 1812, the 1845–51 Irish famine, the American Civil War, Fenianism and mass Irish emigration. The book is a history of the men who filled posts as consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls and consular agents. It reveals their identities, how they interpreted and implemented US foreign policy, their outsider perspective on events in both Ireland and America and their contribution to the expanding transatlantic relationship.Less

American Government in Ireland, 1790-1913 : A History of the US Consular Service

Bernadette Whelan

Published in print: 2010-09-02

This book reconstructs American consular activity in Ireland from 1790 to 1913 and elucidates the interconnectedness of America's foreign interests, Irish nationalism and British imperialism. Its originality lies in that it is based on an interrogation of American, British and Irish archives, and covers over one hundred years of American, Irish and British relations through the post of the American consular official while also uncovering the consul's role in seminal events such as the War of 1812, the 1845–51 Irish famine, the American Civil War, Fenianism and mass Irish emigration. The book is a history of the men who filled posts as consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls and consular agents. It reveals their identities, how they interpreted and implemented US foreign policy, their outsider perspective on events in both Ireland and America and their contribution to the expanding transatlantic relationship.

Place matters in how Americans have responded to and sought to influence US foreign policy. The dynamic of domestic regional influence on US foreign relations was especially apparent in the American ...
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Place matters in how Americans have responded to and sought to influence US foreign policy. The dynamic of domestic regional influence on US foreign relations was especially apparent in the American South’s role in the Vietnam War. From the general public to soldiers, college students, and crucially placed political leaders, Dixie supported the war more strongly and longer than any other section of the country. As had been the southern practice since the 1780s, the South’s bellicose foreign policy stance was grounded in distinctly regional political and economic interests, racial views, ideological and historical assumptions, and religious values. Although Dixie’s support helped to sustain an increasingly unpopular war under both Presidents Johnson and Nixon, many of these same regional interests and values spawned an articulate minority opposition to the war. These antiwar protests, together with the war’s mounting agony, led even the South and its prowar leaders to tire of the conflict by the early 1970s.Less

The American South and the Vietnam War : Belligerence, Protest, and Agony in Dixie

Joseph A. Fry

Published in print: 2015-05-27

Place matters in how Americans have responded to and sought to influence US foreign policy. The dynamic of domestic regional influence on US foreign relations was especially apparent in the American South’s role in the Vietnam War. From the general public to soldiers, college students, and crucially placed political leaders, Dixie supported the war more strongly and longer than any other section of the country. As had been the southern practice since the 1780s, the South’s bellicose foreign policy stance was grounded in distinctly regional political and economic interests, racial views, ideological and historical assumptions, and religious values. Although Dixie’s support helped to sustain an increasingly unpopular war under both Presidents Johnson and Nixon, many of these same regional interests and values spawned an articulate minority opposition to the war. These antiwar protests, together with the war’s mounting agony, led even the South and its prowar leaders to tire of the conflict by the early 1970s.

Our understanding of Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s is being transformed. For decades, historians were locked in a narrow debate about the degree of central control over the terror process. Recent ...
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Our understanding of Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s is being transformed. For decades, historians were locked in a narrow debate about the degree of central control over the terror process. Recent archival research is underpinning new, innovative approaches and opening new perspectives. Historians are exploring the roots of the Terror in the heritage of war and mass repression in the late Imperial and early Soviet periods; in the regime’s focus not just on former ‘oppositionists’, wreckers, and saboteurs, but also on crime and social disorder; in the common European concern to identify and isolate ‘undesirable’ elements. They are examining in much greater depth and detail the precipitants and triggers that turned a determination to protect the Revolution into a ferocious mass repression. This volume brings together the work of the leading historians of Stalinist Terror in sixteen chapters, paired on eight themes, presenting not only the latest developments in the field, but the latest evolution of the debate. Some pairings reflect the diversity of sources, methodologies, and angles of approach to a given subject. Others show stark differences of opinion. Each is briefly introduced by the authors and because no pairing can exhaust a topic, each is followed by a short list of recommended further readings. These are biased towards books and articles in English for the undergraduates, postgraduates and other students of the Stalin-era who will be the main audience of this book.Less

The Anatomy of Terror : Political Violence under Stalin

Published in print: 2013-07-04

Our understanding of Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s is being transformed. For decades, historians were locked in a narrow debate about the degree of central control over the terror process. Recent archival research is underpinning new, innovative approaches and opening new perspectives. Historians are exploring the roots of the Terror in the heritage of war and mass repression in the late Imperial and early Soviet periods; in the regime’s focus not just on former ‘oppositionists’, wreckers, and saboteurs, but also on crime and social disorder; in the common European concern to identify and isolate ‘undesirable’ elements. They are examining in much greater depth and detail the precipitants and triggers that turned a determination to protect the Revolution into a ferocious mass repression. This volume brings together the work of the leading historians of Stalinist Terror in sixteen chapters, paired on eight themes, presenting not only the latest developments in the field, but the latest evolution of the debate. Some pairings reflect the diversity of sources, methodologies, and angles of approach to a given subject. Others show stark differences of opinion. Each is briefly introduced by the authors and because no pairing can exhaust a topic, each is followed by a short list of recommended further readings. These are biased towards books and articles in English for the undergraduates, postgraduates and other students of the Stalin-era who will be the main audience of this book.

Best known today as “the other speaker at Gettysburg” alongside Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett had a distinguished and revealing career in American politics between the 1820s and the Civil War. He ...
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Best known today as “the other speaker at Gettysburg” alongside Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett had a distinguished and revealing career in American politics between the 1820s and the Civil War. He served as a member of both houses of Congress, governor of Massachusetts, U.S. representative to Britain, president of Harvard, and Secretary of State. On the strength of his crusade to save Mount Vernon as a shrine to the Union, Everett also appeared as a vice presidential candidate in the momentous presidential election of 1860. He was unrivalled as an orator and statesman for Union. This study of Everett’s political career illuminates vital themes at the state, national, and international levels of American politics, across several decades. Everett was deeply committed both to vision of moral and material reform and to preserving the Union by tying Americans’ hearts to a shared history. But the issue of slavery constantly threatened to derail all of Everett’s nation-building efforts. This political biography, by tracing Everett’s movement along the antislavery spectrum, exemplifies how most Northerners considered slavery within a larger context of competing priorities that alternately furthered or blocked antislavery action. Everett’s moderate position on slavery and perennial efforts to preserve the sacred Union connected him with masses of his fellow Americans. The emotional popular response to his appeals illustrates the ongoing power of Unionism even as the nation’s sectional divide worsened. This account of Everett’s career thus helps us see the coming of the Civil War as a three-sided, not a two-sided, contest.Less

Apostle of Union : A Political Biography of Edward Everett

Matthew Mason

Published in print: 2016-09-12

Best known today as “the other speaker at Gettysburg” alongside Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett had a distinguished and revealing career in American politics between the 1820s and the Civil War. He served as a member of both houses of Congress, governor of Massachusetts, U.S. representative to Britain, president of Harvard, and Secretary of State. On the strength of his crusade to save Mount Vernon as a shrine to the Union, Everett also appeared as a vice presidential candidate in the momentous presidential election of 1860. He was unrivalled as an orator and statesman for Union. This study of Everett’s political career illuminates vital themes at the state, national, and international levels of American politics, across several decades. Everett was deeply committed both to vision of moral and material reform and to preserving the Union by tying Americans’ hearts to a shared history. But the issue of slavery constantly threatened to derail all of Everett’s nation-building efforts. This political biography, by tracing Everett’s movement along the antislavery spectrum, exemplifies how most Northerners considered slavery within a larger context of competing priorities that alternately furthered or blocked antislavery action. Everett’s moderate position on slavery and perennial efforts to preserve the sacred Union connected him with masses of his fellow Americans. The emotional popular response to his appeals illustrates the ongoing power of Unionism even as the nation’s sectional divide worsened. This account of Everett’s career thus helps us see the coming of the Civil War as a three-sided, not a two-sided, contest.

This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political ...
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This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political correctness—have missed the point. The book argues that rather than arguing over who should be taught, what should be taught, and how it should be paid for, education must be addressed as the well-spring of democracy in the United States. Education should engender in students a commitment to community service, the literacy to live in a civil society, the competence to participate in democratic communities, the ability to think critically and deliberately in a pluralistic world, and the empathy to help people to understand their fellow citizens.Less

An Aristocracy of Everyone : The Politics of Education and the Future of America

Benjamin R. Barber

Published in print: 1994-07-14

This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political correctness—have missed the point. The book argues that rather than arguing over who should be taught, what should be taught, and how it should be paid for, education must be addressed as the well-spring of democracy in the United States. Education should engender in students a commitment to community service, the literacy to live in a civil society, the competence to participate in democratic communities, the ability to think critically and deliberately in a pluralistic world, and the empathy to help people to understand their fellow citizens.

This book provides the first comprehensive history of the arms-racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. ...
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This book provides the first comprehensive history of the arms-racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. Written by an international team of specialists, it is divided into four sections: before 1914; the inter-war years; the Cold War; and extra-European and post-Cold War arms races. Twelve case studies examine land and naval armaments before the First World War; air as well as land and naval competition during the 1920s and 1930s; and nuclear as well as conventional weapons since 1945. Armaments policies are placed within the context of technological development and international politics and diplomacy, as well as that of of politics and economics within the societies concerned. An extended general introduction and conclusion, and four section introductions, provide coherence between the twelve more specialized chapters and draw out wider implications for policymakers and for political scientists. The book addresses two key questions: what causes arms races, and what is the connection between arms races and the outbreak of wars?Less

Arms Races in International Politics : From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century

Published in print: 2016-01-01

This book provides the first comprehensive history of the arms-racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. Written by an international team of specialists, it is divided into four sections: before 1914; the inter-war years; the Cold War; and extra-European and post-Cold War arms races. Twelve case studies examine land and naval armaments before the First World War; air as well as land and naval competition during the 1920s and 1930s; and nuclear as well as conventional weapons since 1945. Armaments policies are placed within the context of technological development and international politics and diplomacy, as well as that of of politics and economics within the societies concerned. An extended general introduction and conclusion, and four section introductions, provide coherence between the twelve more specialized chapters and draw out wider implications for policymakers and for political scientists. The book addresses two key questions: what causes arms races, and what is the connection between arms races and the outbreak of wars?

This book demonstrates that early utopian visions for England’s American colonies had a lasting impact. Those early plans not only influenced the future form of American cities, but they shaped the ...
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This book demonstrates that early utopian visions for England’s American colonies had a lasting impact. Those early plans not only influenced the future form of American cities, but they shaped the American political landscape as well. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, was one of the most powerful politicians in England when he and seven other noblemen founded the Province of Carolina. At an early stage in planning the colony, Ashley Cooper enlisted the assistance of John Locke in preparing its constitution, settlement strategy, and urban-regional design guidelines. Together they left an indelible imprint on the colony and America. Combined with other influences, notably Caribbean slave society, Carolina went on to influence the development of southern political culture. That unique political culture is rooted in ancient hierarchical traditions that stand in sharp contrast to America’s Enlightenment tradition (ironically also shaped in part by the later Locke). The book concludes with an appeal to urbanists, environmentalists, scientists, and others grounded in the Enlightenment paradigms of equality and reason to understand the powerful attraction of pre-Enlightenment political culture. Doing so, the book argues, requires understanding America’s utopian colonial origins.Less

The Ashley Cooper Plan : The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture

Thomas D. Wilson

Published in print: 2016-03-01

This book demonstrates that early utopian visions for England’s American colonies had a lasting impact. Those early plans not only influenced the future form of American cities, but they shaped the American political landscape as well. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, was one of the most powerful politicians in England when he and seven other noblemen founded the Province of Carolina. At an early stage in planning the colony, Ashley Cooper enlisted the assistance of John Locke in preparing its constitution, settlement strategy, and urban-regional design guidelines. Together they left an indelible imprint on the colony and America. Combined with other influences, notably Caribbean slave society, Carolina went on to influence the development of southern political culture. That unique political culture is rooted in ancient hierarchical traditions that stand in sharp contrast to America’s Enlightenment tradition (ironically also shaped in part by the later Locke). The book concludes with an appeal to urbanists, environmentalists, scientists, and others grounded in the Enlightenment paradigms of equality and reason to understand the powerful attraction of pre-Enlightenment political culture. Doing so, the book argues, requires understanding America’s utopian colonial origins.